Voting

The latest DazV5 model standard brings with it new quality and a new mentality: I want the world over to use DazV5 for their projects, be it as model creators or as SFM users. And while releasing the DazV5 development kit (not yet done; this will be updated to a link when it is released) goes a long way toward that, the fact of the matter is there are far more SFM users out there than there are modelers. As such, I want to do my part in providing those new DazV5 models for people to use in their SFM projects.

But there's a problem: I don't do commissions, and the selection of models I am personally interested in is quite limited. The solution: a voting system, where people can submit and vote for what models they would like to see built onto DazV5.

This isn't a conventional voting system, however!

This system works rather indirectly. The models voted on here are not a direct vote of what model gets made next. Instead, they are a vote for what model gets put into the roulette wheel I use to decide what model to make next. Which is to say, this is voting for a chance for a model to be built.^[1]

This is the roulette wheel in question, also known as the Wheel of Indecision. You can see what all models are currently on the Wheel by viewing the Wheels page, and then selecting "Pending Models."

So how does this work?

1. On a given DazV5 livestream (every Wednesday starting in February at 3PM Seattle time, found on Picarto), once the previous model has been finished, I end the current voting cycle and spin the Wheel of Indecision^[2].
2. Whichever model the Wheel lands on is the next model to be made, and is removed from the Wheel. Whichever model was leading the votes at the time of being ended is added to the Wheel. There are always exactly 16 models on the Wheel at any given time.
3. Once the Wheel has been updated, whatever submissions have been consistently the least popular^[3] are removed. All existing votes are wiped, and submissions and votings are open.
4. Every person who logs into the website via Twitter, Discord, or Tumblr can do exactly one of the following: Submit a model for being voted on, OR voting for an existing submission.
   1. You can only submit one model per voting cycle, and you can only vote on one model per voting cycle.
   2. You can change your vote at any time, as new models come in.
   3. You CANNOT vote for a model if you have submitted a model. You will have to wait for the current voting cycle to end.
   4. You CANNOT submit a model if you have already voted. You have to revoke your vote before submitting.
5. Voting and submitting continues until such time as, on a given DazV5 livestream, I finish the previous model and the entire process begins again.

If you are interested in submitting models, here are the rules for them. Please note that there will be a delay between submitting a model for voting, and it becoming available for voting. The delay should be less than 24 hours, depending on the volume of submissions.

1. No models of characters who are under 18, either canonically or obviously through design. Your 3000-year-old witch-dragon trapped in a 12-year-old girl's body is not welcome here.
2. As-close-to-original models only. If it can be plugged into SFM, then don't submit it as a model source. If it's on SFMLab or Smutbase or the Steam Workshop, then don't submit it. If it is an obvious edit, such as a nude model from a non-pornographic game, or a scifi character in fantasy clothes, then don't submit it. Use an XNALara port, or better yet a direct rip of the model. The reason for this is that porting models to Source requires too many compromises on quality - too much data is lost that can't be retrieved again. It's better to start from something as close to the original (like XNALara direct-rip ports) as possible. Building Source models out of Source models is kind of like resaving JPGs. And we all know how that goes.
3. No low-poly characters. If they look like they're from a PlayStation 2 game, or their faces are literally just painted on, then they won't be made. The Final Fantasy X cinematic models are about as low-poly as I'm willing to go.
4. No overly anime characters. This is mostly just for style cohesion - the blatant anime design does not blend well with the Daz body's realism. Overwatch characters are about as far as the style can be stretched - anything more stylized than that, and I don't think it'll work. This is a subjective judgment call though, so if you're not certain, submit it anyways. Worse that'll happen is it gets declined.
5. No non-humanoid-females. This includes "no furries." It also includes no males, no monster girls, no "obviously not even close to a humanoid female." Mass Effect's Quarian are about as far as I am willing to stray from the standard humanoid form. Krogan Females, for example, go too far. If it has a dog snout, it's a hard no from me, dawg.
6. No characters from IP owners who are known for being defensive of their IP. As of right now, this list is only just anything Zelda or World of Warcraft. I lost a Tumblr account over Zelda models, and others have been formally C&D'd over WoW models. I have no interest in dabbling with either.
7. No near-duplicates. I don't care if it's you sending in multiple submissions of the same character, or multiple people sending in submissions of the same character. One submission per character. I don't care if you'd prefer Kasumi with the red kimono over the already-submitted blue kimono. The focus of these modeling streams is building new characters onto DazV5, not building outfits or variants for already-existing DazV5 characters. One submission per character. End of statement.
8. No direct-download (eg Mega) links. I don't know why, but every Mega link ever submitted has errored on me, saying the link is invalid. I am expanding this to all direct-download links (so things like ushare or catbox or whatever). Instead, submit a link to the release post where those direct links exist. So xnalara posts, tumblr posts, twitter links, etc. 
9. No spamming, trolling, shitposting, or anything else that violates the good-spirited intentions of this public system. Don't be an asshole. Don't play coy and pretend you don't know you're being an asshole.

As long as your submission doesn't violate these 7 rules, feel free to submit it! Just be sure to check all the existing submissions first, so that you don't accidentally violate the "no near-duplicates" rule!

I think that's all I have to say. Get submitting, and get voting! I'm very interested to see what people will be voting for.

_{[1] I need to be perfectly clear when I say this: There are 16 models on the Wheel at any one time, and the winners of this vote go onto the Wheel - which means that, statistically, there is only a 1 in 16 chance of that model being made every time the Wheel is spun. The winning model might get made the next week - or it might not get made for the next 5 years. So be patient!}

_{[2] The spin of the wheel is entirely controlled by a psuedo-random-number generator. It does NOT pick the winner ahead of time: instead, it picks how hard the wheel is spun, and then lets the physics simulation take over from there. I do not prime the wheel to pick on a specific model. Truth be told, I am about 90% convinced I implemented the physics simulation wrong and the math is in correct - I don't think I could rig it to land on a specific model even if I wanted to. And if you still don't trust me, you can use the fact I will complain live on stream every time it doesn't pick Rebecca Chambers as evidence that I don't rig the damn thing.}

_{[3] The exact algorithm for culling is that any model who has been submitted for at least 3 voting cycles and received less than 50% of the winning model's votes is automatically removed from the database. This is to keep the voting system clean from clutter of models that no one other than the submitter cares about. Only the popular models that people want stay in the system, so that eventually they can all (theoretically) get a spot on the Wheel and have a fair shot at getting made.}